Rasmussen on SOTU speech: No sale

posted at 2:55 pm on January 27, 2011 by Ed Morrissey

Via Power Line, it appears as if the State of the Union speech had little impact on the electorate’s desire for “investments.” Despite Barack Obama’s reference to a “Sputnik moment,” Rasmussen’s poll of voters on the issue of spending showed almost no movement at all from the pre-speech baseline. In fact, it got ever so slightly more negative:

The president’s Tuesday night State of the Union speech had little impact on support for his new spending proposals in areas like education, transportation and technological innovation.

Rasmussen Reports asked voters the same three questions about the president’s economic proposals on the two nights prior to the speech and then again on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

On the first two nights, 39% supported the proposals. On the next two nights, support was 41%.

Fifty percent (50%) of Likely U.S. Voters now oppose the federal government spending more money in areas like education, transportation and technological innovation, up from 45% in the previous survey. Forty-one percent (41%) favor the idea, a two-point increase from before. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

On the issue of overall spending and the economy, a near-majority of 49% believe spending cuts will benefit the economy more than spending. Just over a third believe more spending will stimulate the economy. Among independents, however, 61% back spending cuts against only 23% that want increased spending. Obama didn’t even really make the sale among Democrats; only 57% believe more spending will boost the economy.

As for Obama’s promise to cut the deficit in half in his first term, hardly anyone bought that promise either. Among all voters, only 22% thought it was somewhat or very likely, while 73% thought it not very or not at all likely. Independents split 12/83, even more harshly than Republicans at 16/82. Once again, Democrats didn’t buy it either, with a 35/55 split.

On that score, though, Obama might find himself rescued by Republicans. They have promised to attack government spending in the next two budget cycles, starting with a token reduction in what’s left of the FY2011 budgeting. Rand Paul wants to cut $500 billion right now, which would take Obama about two-thirds of the way towards his promise — assuming that he’d sign Paul’s plan, which he most assuredly will not. Perhaps that’s why Republicans find their popularity on the upswing in the latest Gallup poll:

Americans’ opinions of the Republican Party have improved to the point where now more have a favorable than unfavorable opinion of the party. The last time more Americans viewed the GOP more positively than negatively was in 2005.

For the early part of the 2000s, Americans had a net-positive image of the Republican Party. That changed in 2005, as Americans soured on the Bush administration over the ongoing Iraq war, the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, and rising gas prices, among other issues. After the 2006 midterm elections, which saw Americans remove the Republicans as the majority party in Congress, the Republicans’ ratings were 35% favorable and 58% unfavorable.

The Republican Party’s image remained negative over the next two years as the economy worsened, except for a 47%-47% reading after the party’s well-received national convention in 2008, which ended days before the financial crisis intensified. Just after Americans elected Barack Obama to replace Bush later that year, the Republicans’ net-favorable score was -27 (34% favorable, 61% unfavorable) — the worst Gallup has measured in this trend dating to 1992.

The GOP now rates a 47/43 in favorability for a plus-4. Democrats also bounced back a little from their 41/54 nadir in early 2010 to 46/47. Unlike the GOP, though, Democrats have rarely had negative favorability in Gallup’s polling. The polling was done well before the SOTU speech but just days after the Tucson shooting, which indicates that respondents largely ignored the “heated rhetoric” meme.

On the issue of overall spending and the economy, a near-majority of 49% believe spending cuts will benefit the economy more than spending. Just over a third believe more spending will stimulate the economy. Among independents, however, 61% back spending cuts against only 23% that want increased spending. Obama didn’t even really make the sale among Democrats; only 57% believe more spending will boost the economy.

Obama’s Episodic Stories in SOTU All Rooted in 2012 Battleground States
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Although State of the Union Addresses are often criticized for being high on generalities and soaring oratory but low on specifics, it has become customary for presidents to highlight stories from ‘regular Americans’ in order to place emphasis on their policy proposals and also to help their larger thematic points resonate with the viewing public.

Presidents therefore frequently single out the names of specific Americans – often special guests at the annual Address – and mention where they are from, and how their stories have a larger meaning, contributing not only to the greatness of America, but also to the theme of that particular section of the president’s speech.

In Tuesday night’s State of the Union Address, each of these stories relayed by Barack Obama had one thing in common.
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A Smart Politics review of the State of the Union Address finds that every personal, episodic story told by the President about regular Americans was rooted in a battleground state carried by Obama in 2008: Michigan, Colorado, North Carolina, Oregon, and Pennsylvania.

To be sure, if the President is going to be reelected in 2012, he will need to carry almost all of these states.

On the heels of the President’s “This is our generation’s Sputnik moment” line, Obama described the entrepreneurial spirit of a small business in Michigan that was an innovator in solar energy:
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Robert and Gary Allen are brothers who run a small Michigan roofing company. After September 11th, they volunteered their best roofers to help repair the Pentagon. But half of their factory went unused, and the recession hit them hard. Today, with the help of a government loan, that empty space is being used to manufacture solar shingles that are being sold all across the country. In Robert’s words, “We reinvented ourselves.”
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Obama won Michigan by 16.4 points in 2008, but the Wolverine State was one of many in the Midwest in 2010 that saw a GOP landslide.

but 92% said the speech was great and they loved Obama on prom night….

unseen on January 27, 2011 at 3:09 PM

This is what really galls me. CBS drops the 92% turd. Anyone with at least as much common sense as a box of rocks would say…Oh Really?? And then CBS just skips down the road, another day, another lie…..I’m getting paid…so what??

And I don’t put a whole lot of stock in any of these polling outfits either…You have this entire industry conducting polls on a nation of 300 million people…it’s all crap…

… on the other hand, it’s probably not in most history textbooks anymore because of it’s relationship to the “arms race.”

J_Crater on January 27, 2011 at 3:08 PM

Why not? The Russians are our friends now, and we’ve gotta show the good little kiddies how successful the Communist system was–they even had free health care! Just don’t mention little details like millions of starving Ukrainians, the Gulag, and the Iron Curtain–Uncle Joe was such a kind man!

The roofers dear leader mentioned were hit hard by the recession because of govt meddling in the housing industry. No new houses started, no need for roofers. When are the stupid going to think things through? Sarah got him good with the wtf, just like death panels.

Has anybody followed up on the young entrepreneur from PA who drilled the escape shaft for the Chilean miners? Does his company make drilling equipment for oil or gas wells? Do you think he could get a grant or subsidy from the Obama administration? Ha!

According to StansberryResearch.com
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we are headed for a hyper-inflation of the dollar
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that will destroy this country.
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The feds will try to print their way out of debt.
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The dollar will become worth zero.
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With much pain and suffering along the way.
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Not a pretty picture.